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It's a classic diving competition taken to extreme limits: The
2014 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series — an event that sees
world-class divers plunge from jaw-dropping heights — will be
making a stop in Texas this weekend.

Elite male and female
divers from around the world are scheduled to compete
Saturday (June 7) in Hell's Gate, Texas. The event will be the
second of seven stops for this year's Red Bull Cliff Diving World
Series, which began May 10 in Cuba, and will end in Brazil on
Oct. 19.

Throughout the Cliff Diving World Series, participants free-fall
from structures that are nearly three times taller than the
33-foot-tall (10 meters) platforms used in
Olympic diving events. For Saturday's competition in Texas,
male athletes will be required to dive from nearly 92 feet (28
m), and female divers will plunge from almost 66 feet (20 meters)
above the surface of the water.

At Hell's Gate, the competitors will gracefully leap, twist and
turn in mid-air, before landing in the deep waters of Possum
Kingdom Lake, nestled in the valley of the Palo Pinto Mountains.

Saturday's showdown in Texas will also be this year's first
women's competition of the World Series. Seven female divers,
including three American women, are expected to compete in Hell's
Gate.

On the men's side, Blake Aldridge of Great Britain is currently
in the lead, with 200 points. Jonathan Paredes, of Mexico, and
Gary Hunt, of Great Britain, round out the top three positions
with 160 and 130 points, respectively.

American diver Steven LoBue, who is currently in fifth place with
90 points, will be looking to move up the ranks in Texas. In
addition to
braving extreme heights, he said much of the excitement from
the Cliff Diving World Series comes from the unique settings at
each stop of the competition.

"The challenge comes from the actual locations we go to," LoBue
told Live Science. "Whether it's frigid waters in Ireland to
warmer climates in Spain — each place presents challenges."

After Texas, the World Series will travel to Ireland, Norway,
Portugal and Spain, before ending with a final face-off in
Brazil.

LoBue said cliff diving, which began on the fringes of the
sporting
world, has undergone a rapid evolution since the first Red
Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2009. This can be seen not only
in the growing popularity of the extreme sport, but also in the
impressive performance of the intrepid divers.

"We're still seeing guys do things that nobody thought was
possible," LoBue said. "With the number of flips — of course,
there's a limit — we just don't know what that is now. For now,
the limitations only come with lack of creativity."

The Hell's Gate competition will take place at Possum Kingdom
Lake, beginning at 1:30 p.m. local time. The event will be
televised in the U.S. on Fox Sports 1 on July 21 at 7 p.m. EDT
(check local listings).